Thewho,what,andwhybehindourkidsfinanceapp

GravyStack, the best educational app for kids and teens, was created to develop resilient young people who are empowered not only to make money but also to make money matter.

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The GravyStack Story: How we became a top financial literacy game

DID YOU KNOW: 76% of young adults can't pass a basic financial literacy test?

Three out of four high school grads will be in debt within a year and don't know how to do real-life financial tasks like opening a bank account, buying or leasing a car, or budgeting for groceries. Financial literacy for high school students is at an all-time low.

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Without GravyStack...
With GravyStack...
37%
37% of parents who give an allowance essentially let their kids borrow against it, training them to use borrowing and debt financing.
GravyStack families love the freedom and results that our customizable financial roadmap provides.
Without GravyStack image
50%
Only 50% of parents who provide an allowance make their kids save a portion of it.
With GravyStack, kids never ask for money from their parents. They offer to earn it!
Allowance is a broken system.
The right financial education can fix it.
Without GravyStack image
66%
66% of families still pay an allowance even if the agreed-upon chores don't get done.
Home Gigs make sure to tie every dollar earned to a specific valuable action your kid has completed.
Why are parents still providing an allowance?
Build values, responsibility, & self-motivation.
Without GravyStack image

Is what we're describing similar to your experience? Let's fix the situation together

Are you ready to change your child's financial future? Do you want to improve their financial competency and responsibility?

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Our Mission to create 50 million financially competent kids ready to succeed in the real world

Our Mission

To create 50 million financially competent kids ready to succeed in the real world.

Scott Donnell - founder of GravyStack

Meet Scott Donnell, founder of GravyStack, the cashflow game for kids

Hey! I'm Scott, one of the founders of GravyStack, along with a bunch of other parents who care about financial literacy for their kids and teens. I'm also a husband and father of four children. We created GravyStack because young people don’t learn enough about money before they leave the nest, and this has a drastic effect on the rest of their lives.

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Reviews and Ratings

Jace W. (11)

I learned that all my money goes somewhere. GravyStack helps me see it move and helps me make changes to help me reach my goals.

Tyler P. (14)

I learned about setting up my jars ahead of time. I like to put everything in my savings and then only move to my debit card when I need it.

Kaeden L. (12)

I have learned that you've gotta save some things, like money,  I relearn that with every game. There are some things that I need vs don't need.

Lucy P. (8)

I loved asking dad questions about subscriptions.

Get started with GravyStack today.

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GravyStack can help parents and other caregivers with the financial literacy issue through our leading money management game.

Most kids and teens aren't taught to manage their finances at school, so it falls on parents to pick up the slack. But parents and other caregivers don't have the time, knowledge, or resources to tackle the task. Even if they have the time and knowledge, kids learn better when someone other than their primary caregiver tries to teach them something. That's where GravyStack, our educational app for teens and kids, comes in.

Young people find out how to earn, save, and manage their money through independent learning that they're actually excited to do. When education happens through a fun personal finance game, it sticks. GravyStack is designed by subject matter experts, overseen by child psychologists, and gamified by behavioral learning game specialists who understand the science of FUN.

Through our whole family personal finance app, kids learn how to create value and earn money instead of just waiting for their allowance. By building an in-home economy, GravyStack came up with a way to stop the whining, begging, and fighting that standard allowance and chore models teach.

Parents spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on stuff their kids could and should buy for themselves if they had an income stream, including birthday presents for friends, movie tickets, and special treats. Sheltering kids from the financial reality of everyday expenses and extras teaches kids to expect things to be provided for them at someone else's expense. And this is not how the real world works. No wonder 76% of them can't support themselves when they leave home.

The good news is that a straightforward switch can flip this whole concept on its head without adding extra time, stress, or expense to the family's already taxed lives. You can redirect the same funds you already spend on life’s “everyday extras” to something that will teach your kids responsibility, grit, independence, the concept of supply and demand, how to provide value to their community, and more.

You might think: My kids would freak if they had to buy this stuff themselves!

This might be true at first, but it's only because they have never experienced the thrill of financial independence before and have no idea how to make money for themselves. The confidence they get when they achieve what they want through their own efforts is priceless, and that is what will guide them on the right path in the long term.

GravyStack's Gigs can solve this!

You sit down as a family and decide what items and experiences you, as parents, will no longer pay for. You then decide where you want to reinvest that money in exchange for your children performing certain actions! They will immediately begin to see the direct connection between their efforts to provide value to the world around them and how this gives them the means to buy the things they want and accomplish any goal. Gigs give kids and parents a way to escape the traps that standard allowance and chores keep them in and provide freedom for everyone in the household.

GravyStack is built by busy parents for busy parents who want to set their kids on the path to financial freedom early. We're committed to helping you empower your kids to become self-sufficient, resilient adults who understand how money works. It's excellent preparation for building financial literacy in high school and beyond.

The Donnell Family

Schools don't teach it, banks don't care about kids, and parents are crazy busy or may not even know where to start.

It's why we have a $1.57 trillion student debt issue, and 76 percent of young adults fail a basic financial literacy test. Financial literacy for high school students deserves a failing grade.

According to research by Standard and Poors, just 57 percent of U.S. adults are considered financially literate. Merrill Lynch recently found that Boomer and Gen X parents supply their kids with $500 billion annually in financial support for basics like food, groceries, student loans, and cellphone bills. That's twice as much as those same parents put into saving for retirement. Something is wrong with that picture.

And before we go blaming “the kids”, 75% of young people report that they crave financial independence. They actually want to know how to:

- Make enough money to reach their financial goals

- Manage a budget

- Understand debt

- And not get tricked by bad investing advice

So, why aren’t they learning this stuff if they actively want to have these skills? To put it simply, the way people teach these topics is dull.

Before GravyStack, I created Apex Leadership Co to raise money for schools and teach leadership to 6,000,000 kids across America. I also developed My First Sale, which helped thousands of kids launch their small businesses, along with entrepreneurial skills like pricing, selling, profit, and more. They loved it! Seeing these kids light up and have fun with topics most adults consider “dull” changed them (and me) forever. I knew I had to continue this momentum. We brought these insights into GravyStack to combine the real-world tools they need—banking and financial education—with the key element of fun in a single platform that fits in the palm of their hand.

In some areas, public schools are just now attempting to teach financial literacy. In many areas, this is still a neglected topic. Why is this the case when it is so vital for success when young adults leave home?

Financial literacy is a complex topic to learn because most young people don't want more homework, and they usually have their basic money needs covered at home, so why would they care? And let’s face it, as parents, we don't know where to begin.

With GravyStack, we provide a roadmap that gets the whole family involved and teaches children and teens how to spend, save, and share money—all without adding any more time or effort to your plate as a parent.

I hope you'll join me on this journey to help our kids learn to make money and also make money matter.

- Scott